Navigate:

C-SPAN apologizes for racy show titles

C-SPAN apologized Wednesday for a bizarre scheduling snafu that resulted in its online feed being topped with the title “Just Plain Dick” during the Senate’s fiscal cliff debate on New Year’s Eve.

“You may have seen tweets and postings online asserting that C-SPAN’s website had been hacked over the New Year’s holiday, citing obscenities in the schedule,” the cable-supported network wrote in a blog post. “While the site was not hacked, our policy of using current nonfiction book titles verbatim in our schedule led to the unfortunate posting of content some might find offensive on C-SPAN.org. We apologize for that and are taking steps to prevent it from happening again.”

Text Size

-

+

reset

The Senate debate was aired on C-SPAN2, where it pre-empted a discussion of a book on President Richard Nixon by Kevin Mattson. The book title loomed over the frame, sparking amusement and some consternation on Twitter.

Then, on Tuesday night as the House considered a vote on the rules for its fiscal cliff debate, it was noted that the program appearing on C-SPAN2 at that time was “I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up.” The House debate was carried on the main C-SPAN, but the coincidence of the schedule led many on Twitter to wonder if the site had been hacked.

It had not. Rather, the title referred to a discussion being aired of comic D.L. Hughley’s book on politics.

“Unfortunately, two of our previously scheduled BookTV programs had titles that some might find offensive,” the blog post said. “Going forward, we will review our procedures and efforts will be taken to prevent incorrect and inappropriate schedule information from appearing.”

Amid the Twitter uproar, C-SPAN2 deleted the Hughley program title from its menu even though the show was over.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 2:00 p.m. on January 2, 2013.